A comprehensive exploration on the health risk quantification assessment of soil potentially toxic elements from different sources around large-scale smelting area

Non-ferrous metal smelting activities have always been considered as one of the foremost anthropogenic sources of potentially toxic elements (PTEs). The enrichment factor (EF) and pollution load index (PLI) were used to evaluate the pollution level of soil PTEs; positive matrix factorization (PMF), correlation analysis, and geostatistics were utilized to quantify the sources of soil PTEs; and potential ecological risk (PER) and human health risk (HHR) of different sources from farmland, construction land, and natural land were quantifiably determined via combined PTE sources with PER and HHR assessment models. Taking the smelting area of Daye City as an example, the evaluation results of EF and PLI showed that the soil PTE pollution in the study area was serious, especially Cd and Cu. And four sources were quantitatively allocated as agricultural practices (12.14%), traffic emissions (23.07%), natural sources (33.46%), and industrial activities (31.33%). For PER, industrial activities were the largest contributor to PER, accounting for 55.66%, 56.30%, and 55.36% of farmland, construction land, and natural land, respectively, and Cd was the most dangerous element. In terms of HHR, industrial activities were also the cardinal contributors under the three land use types. Children were exposed to serious non-carcinogenic risks under three land use patterns and slight carcinogenic risk in construction land (1.06E-04). Significantly, the carcinogenic risk of children in farmland (9.06 x 10(-5)) was very close to the threshold (1 x 10(-4)), which requires attention. Both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for adults were all at acceptable levels. The health risks (carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks) of children from four different sources were distinctly higher than those of adults. Consequently, strict management and control of industrial activities should be given priority, and the management of agricultural practices should not be ignored.